Grand jury indicts ex-Patriot Aaron Hernandez on murder charge

A grand jury has indicted former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on murder and illegal firearm charges stemming from the June 17 fatal shooting of Odin Lloyd in North Attleborough. The indictment was issued Thursday morning a few hours before Hernandez, 23, was scheduled to have a probable cause hea...

A grand jury has indicted former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on murder and illegal firearm charges stemming from the June 17 fatal shooting of Odin Lloyd in North Attleborough.

The indictment was issued Thursday morning a few hours before Hernandez, 23, was scheduled to have a probable cause hearing in Attleboro District Court. Hernandez, wearing a dark-colored suit jacket, shirt and pants, still appeared for the brief court hearing, where Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter announced the indictment.

Hernandez —­ who twice mouthed “I love you” to someone in the courtroom Thursday — will be arraigned at a later date in Fall River Superior Court. Sutter said the investigation continues.

“We’re moving forward apace. We continue to make strides and to build our case,” Sutter said outside the courthouse.

Hernandez’s defense lawyers said they were “disappointed” that the probable cause hearing did not move forward.

“Defense counsel were looking forward to testing the commonwealth’s evidence, something that has not been done to date,” said defense lawyer Michael Fee, who claimed that innuendo and misrepresentations of facts have been rampant in the public.

“There has been an incredible rush to judgment in this case,” Fee said, adding that the defense team is looking forward to the case reaching trial, where prosecutors will have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“We believe that burden will not be carried. ... On the evidence that we’re aware of today, we don’t believe it’s possible for the commonwealth to carry its burden,” Fee said.

Sutter declined to respond to Fee’s comments. Without restating them, Sutter mentioned Fall River Superior Court Judge Renee Dupuis’ comments during Hernandez’s June 27 bail review hearing, during which the judge said the prosecution’s case, while circumstantial, was “very, very strong.”

Hernandez’s lawyers also filed a motion Thursday requesting that a district court judge’s gag order remain in place while the case is transferred to superior court. The defense team filed additional motions seeking discovery materials and requesting that prosecutors stop “misleading witnesses.”

The basis for that allegation, Sutter said, was a police interview in Connecticut where investigators supposedly told a witness they were trying to “help Aaron.” Sutter said he had not reviewed the defense’s motion, but said he did not expect it to amount to anything because Hernandez’s lawyers were not seeking penalties.

“If the motion was profoundly grave, I’m sure that some sanction would been asked for. The motion just essentially says, 'Tell them not to do it again,’” Sutter said.

A hearing on those motions is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 30 in Attleboro District Court.

The Bristol County grand jury’s indictment charges Hernandez with murder, unlicensed possession of a firearm, unlicensed possession of a rifle without an FID card, unlicensed possession of a large-capacity weapon or feeding device and two counts of unlicensed possession of ammunition without an FID card.

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If convicted of first-degree murder, Hernandez would be sentenced to life in state prison with no possibility of parole. A second-degree murder conviction also carries a life sentence but an inmate can qualify for parole after serving 15 years of his or her sentence. The jury decides the degree of murder, taking into consideration whether the crime was committed with premeditated malice and extreme atrocity or cruelty.

Two other people have been indicted in connection with the investigation. Ernest Wallace, of Miramar, Fla., an alleged co-conspirator, is charged with being an accessory after the fact. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in superior court. Tanya Cummings Singleton, Hernandez’s cousin, is charged with contempt for refusing to testify before the grand jury when she was subpoenaed, prosecutors said. She is scheduled to be arraigned today in superior court.

Carlos Ortiz, a co-defendant, is charged with illegal firearm possession. His case is still pending in Attleboro District Court because he has not been indicted. Sutter declined to explain why a grand jury has not indicted Ortiz.

Ortiz told investigators Hernandez and Lloyd got into an argument the night of Lloyd’s murder over some people Lloyd had been talking to at a Boston nightclub a few days earlier, prosecutors said.

Lloyd’s body was found June 17 in an industrial park about a mile from Hernandez’s North Attleborough home. Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée, had been shot five times, according to court records.

Prosecutors allege Hernandez orchestrated Lloyd’s homicide. He allegedly summoned Wallace and Ortiz from Connecticut and set up a meeting with Lloyd. Prosecutors said video surveillance shows the three and Lloyd driving into the industrial park in the early-morning hours of June 17, and leaving a few minutes later with Lloyd no longer in the vehicle. Video footage from Hernandez’s home also purports to show the former Patriot holding a gun in his house shortly after the murder, according to court documents.

Police have conducted several searches in Massachusetts and Connecticut but to date have not recovered the alleged murder weapon.

Earlier this month, prosecutors provided Hernandez’s defense team with surveillance video from a Boston nightclub where Hernandez and Lloyd allegedly had their dispute. Defense lawyers have called the case weak and circumstantial.

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Email Brian Fraga at bfraga@heraldnews.com.